Violent protests continued in France for a second night as security forces deployed in their thousands to bring protests over the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old boy under control by the police, which French President Emmanuel Macron described as ‘inexcusable’ while pleading for calm as justice took its course.
Following the deadly point-blank shooting of the youngster at a traffic check in the Paris district of Nanterre on Tuesday morning, over 2,000 riot police were dispatched to the area on Wednesday night.
On Wednesday night, fireworks were set off in Nanterre as well as other communes in the Hauts-de-Seine region to the west of Paris and in the eastern city of Dijon. Protesters also set fire to garbage cans. According to authorities, a gang of individuals set a bus on fire in the Essonne district, south of the city, after all the passengers got off.
In the southern city of Toulouse, several cars were torched, and responding police and firefighters were pelted with projectiles as thick black smoke billowed high into the sky, a police source said.
About 16 people were arrested across the country, police said shortly after midnight on Wednesday.
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Anger over the killing spawned unrest in multiple towns around Paris on Tuesday night. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 31 people were arrested, 24 police officers injured and 40 cars burned overnight on Tuesday and into the early hours of Wednesday.
The victim, identified as Nahel M from Nanterre, was pulled over by two police officers for breaking traffic rules while driving a yellow Mercedes on Tuesday morning.
Police initially reported that an officer had shot at the teenager because he was driving his car at him but this version of events was contradicted by a video circulating on social media. That footage shows the two police officers standing by the side of the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver.